14 GUERNSEY. 
and plants, amounted to over half a million, the actual figures being 
503,478. This kind of market gardening has proved extremely 
lucrative when compared with the old-time farming of. small 
holdings, and, as a natural consequence, greenhouses have sprung 
up on every side with magical rapidity. How long the business will 
continue remunerative time will show. 
The entomology of Guernsey has been very carefully worked up. 
during the last twenty years, and long lists of species belonging 
to nearly all the orders of insects have been published in the 
Transactions of the local Natural History Society. On studying 
these lists it will be perceived that in all the large orders, and in 
most of the smaller ones, insects occur which do not belong to 
Britain proper. This is only what might be expected; but what is. 
far more curious and less easily accounted for is the entire absence 
of many species which are universally distributed, and as a rule 
quite common, throughout the south of England. Another in- 
teresting point is that each of the smaller islands possesses certain 
forms or races peculiar to itself, and not found elsewhere in the 
Channel group. 
In every department of marine zoology the Channel Islands in 
general, and Guernsey in particular, present an almost ideal hunting- 
ground, and one which is probably unrivalled on the British coasts. 
For not only is the marine fauna exceedingly rich and varied, but 
the study of it is facilitated by the great range of the tide, which, at 
low water, lays bare a vast expanse of rocky sea-bed, and renders 
accessible many outlying clusters of rocks, which, with the exercise 
of caution, may be investigated without inconvenience and almost 
dry-shod. 
Climate Meteorological observations have been very carefully 
"registered in Guernsey for more than fifty years without 
a break. The following notes are extracted from the valuable 
papers and tables prepared by Mr. A. Collenette, and printed in the 
Transactions of the Guernsey Society of Natural Science :— 
The average annual rainfall of the island, computed from a 
continuous series of readings taken twice daily from January rst, 
1843, to December 31st, 1892, is 36°99 inches, divided among the 
four seasons thus :— 
March, April, May ae an ive Ogg 
June, July, August es ; Coe SaGeye 
September, October, November .. ver ROtay 
December, January, February... an fe GTO 
The average number of wet days per annum is 180°3. The driest month 
of the year is June, with a rainfall of 2°08 inches, and an average of 
111 wet days. The wettest month is October, with a rainfall of 5° 03 
inches, and an average of 18°8 wet days. The heaviest fall of rain 
